According to United Nations estimates, the global human population is projected to reach 8.9 billion by 2050, with developing country in Asia and Africa expected to absorb the vast majority of the increase. As world populations continuing to increase at a rapid rate, the demands placed upon both agriculture and the raising of livestock and other animals will be one of the greatest challenges facing the human race. In light of this challenge, it will be of mounting importance to discover and identify novel means of improving both plant and animal growth and health using the most efficient and economically viable means. This includes (in addition to soil improvement and amelioration, employing enhanced and more efficient delivery mechanisms for vital nutrients and health-promoting substances and the use of time-releasing substances for such nutrients and substances) the efficient introduction of mineral solubilizing microbes that make essential minerals in soil, fertilizer or feedstock more readily available for plant or animal intake.
In the agronomical field, among the known types of soil enhancers are biochar. It contains highly porous, high carbon content material similar to the type of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soil found in the Amazon Basin known as Terra Preta, which has very high carbon content and historically has been made from a mixture of charcoal, bone, and manure. Biochar is created by the pyrolysis of biomass, which generally involves heating and/or burning of organic matter, in a reduced oxygen environment, at a predetermined rate. Such heating and/or burning is stopped when the matter reaches a charcoal like stage. The highly porous material of biochar is suited to host beneficial microbes, retain nutrients, hold water, and act as a delivery system for a range of beneficial compounds and additives suited to specific applications.
Raw biochar, while known for its soil enhancing characteristics, does not always benefit soil and, depending upon the biomass from which the biochar is produced and the method of production, can potentially be harmful to the soil, making it unsuitable for various types of crops or other productive uses. In particular, biochar can be detrimental, or even toxic, to 1) soil microbes involved in nutrient transport to the plant; 2) plants and 3) humans. Biochars derived from different biomass or produced with differing parameters, such as higher or lower pyrolysis temperature or variations in residence time, will have different physical and chemical properties and can behave quite differently when used in agriculture. For example, biochar having pH levels too high, containing too much ash, inorganics, or containing toxins or heavy metal content too high can be harmful and/or have minimal benefit to the soil and the plant life it supports. Biochar can also contain unacceptable levels of residual organic compounds such as acids, esters, ethers, ketones, alcohols, sugars, phenyls, alkanes, alkenes, phenols, polychlorinated biphenyls or poly or mono aromatic hydrocarbons which are either toxic or not beneficial to plant or animal life.
Due to the unpredictable performance of biochar and its potential to be detrimental to plant life and growth, it has mostly been a scientific curiosity, not found wide spread use, not found large scale commercial application, and has been relegated to small niche applications. It is, however, known, as noted above, that biochar, having certain characteristics can host beneficial microbes, retain nutrients, hold water, and act as a delivery system for a range of beneficial compounds suited to specific applications. Thus, it has been a continued desire to capture the beneficial soil enhancing characteristics of biochar in a more consistent, predictable way. Biochar research has continued in an attempt to harness biochar having predictable, controllable, and beneficial results as a soil amendment for large scale applications.
Minerals are an essential nutrient for both plants and animals, including phosphorus and potassium for plants and minerals such as iron, calcium, copper, zinc, magnesium and manganese for animals. For these minerals to be available for efficient uptake by plant roots or animal ruminant and digestive systems they must be present in soils, fertilizers and animal feed in bioavailable forms. Further, making such minerals and other nutrients and supplements readily available for ingestion by animals to provide proper animal nutrition is key for successful livestock production and aquaculture. Good nutrition can increase feed efficiency and the growth rate of animals and help prevent diseases and ailments. Certain of these nutrients are readily available for plant and animal use, but, in the current environment, are not easily accessible by the plants or animals.
For example, major amounts of phosphorus and potassium are present in soil in a fixed form that is not directly taken up by the plant. To satisfy crop nutritional requirements, these minerals are usually added to soil as chemical fertilizer, however synthesis of chemical fertilizer is a highly energy intensive process, and has long term impacts on the environment in terms of eutrophication, soil fertility depletion, and carbon footprint. Furthermore, some nutrients, are not renewable and must be mined or otherwise extracted from the earth—raising questions about the sustainability of supply as worldwide agricultural utilization increases. Such environmental concerns have led to the search for sustainable way of providing mineral nutrition to crops. In recent years, it has been discovered that some forms of microbial life are capable of taking fixed or recalcitrant forms of some nutrients, such as phosphorous, and converting them to soluble forms which can be more efficiently utilized by plant life.
With increased pressures upon the world's food supplies by ever increasing population, a need therefore exists for a method of making these nutrient solubilizing microbes more readily available in connection with both agriculture and the raising of animals in a manner that reduces costs and increases productivity in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.